Do you realize the importance of…..

You never realize the importance of things you have unless you come across situations which make you feel so lucky....

Just a few days ago, I realized the importance of eyes and light in our life....
When i went to the basement parking to return back home, there was absolutely no light there & it was a dark place, could not see anything infront of me, and was almost blind.... I had to find my vehicle in that darkness, for a moment felt damn scary :(
I lived few moments in blindness and realized how lucky i am to have eyes and getting to experience such beautiful life :)

Another incident where dad and mom just escaped a major car accident and that too because of my new car learner uncle, this news shook me completely and felt for a moment that I lost them and went into a chain of all possible horrible thoughts…. L. That was time when they too realized that life can be short or long for you, you need to live the present completely and enjoy every moment….J

These 2 incidents made me think about all possible things that we are lucky about and don’t realize its importance;

You don’t realize the importance of;

Eyes unless you go blind or caught in a situation where you live a life of a blind,

Legs and hands unless you fracture it and you then have to depend on others for support,

Freedom you enjoy unless you get into a jail kind place and have restrictions on every possible thing,

Speech unless you meet dumb people and interact with them,

Water unless you go to some desert area and it costs you more than what petrol cost,

Food you eat unless you go to some forest and you have live without food for days,

Hard earned money unless you stop earning and have to live life like a miser,

Your best buddy dad unless he is away and you cannot reach him when you truly need him,

Caring angel in life your mom unless you tend to sacrifice things which she did all her life for your happiness,

People who love you and always around unless they happen to suddenly disappear from your life,

Best buddies of your life unless you are in your bad days and they are the only once who trust you and know your worth,

All worthy things around us unless they are taken away,

Time unless you fall short of few seconds to complete a task

And your beautiful life unless you escape some major accident or witness a closed person’s death,

The list is countless, we just need to be courteous enough to recognize them and be thankful to god for your beautiful life he has gifted you.

I have realized many important things in my life and continue to Live the present to the fullest and thank god for such a beautiful life J

Life is happiness,

Life is giving joy,

Life is freedom

Life is a creation

Just live your life like a dream and enjoy it J

Sharing my Learnings….

Blogging after a long time....just wanted to share things i learnt since the past few weeks....

• Never underestimate your work. May be, the work might not be a routine and not what you wanted it to be, but try looking for the positives in doing it. I believe worrying about the work prospects or lack of interest in the work will definitely not be fruitful for both the business and to you personally. Just take it as a new task and accomplish it by giving your best to it.
• Not all work would reward you, but yes look at the things you got to learn during its execution. When there is always some learning involved in any work, that work cannot be worthless.
• Never hesitate to ask for help when you are in need or when you are stuck. There is a saying “You can get even God when you ask for it.” After asking many people for help, there will be one angel who would be ready to do so and don’t forget to appreciate the help and Thank your Angel!
• Asking for help does not mean you completely leave it to that person to complete the task. You ought to have the approach of learning stuffs and willingness to do it yourself and make mistakes if needed to learn….:)
• Always be patient and ever lose hope and never give up….. You might be just very close to the destination, but your lack of hope might not let you reach there.

Worrying does not take away tomorrow’s troubles; it takes away today’s Peace. Don’t worry, the fog will lift someday. When it gets darkest the stars come out…J

• Copying this from my sister’s blog post, since I too believe in it….”Our lives are dropped, crumpled and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. You are special, don’t ever forget it!!” Never worry about the way others rate or value you, it is you who needs to value yourself for others to value you.
• Change is the only constant thing in life….So if things are going well, enjoy it, they will not last forever. If it’s going wrong don’t worry, they can’t long either…

When it’s good then it’s good, it’s so good till it goes bad…..:P

And finally something which my mom says….”Take time out and enjoy every moment of your life, don’t leave things for the end, you can enjoy when you are young. Live the present…”

Torna Trek

I used to hear our office trek group talking about their trek experiences and always wished to be part of it and have an adventurous trek. Thanks to Kishor (one of the initiators of the trek group) who invited me for the Torna trek. I was in for it, the moment he invited me….:) I was the only girl from the group going for the trek and there were never any second thoughts over whether to miss it.

TORNA was the first fort conquered by Shivaji Maharaj and he put the garland (Called Toran in Marathi) of his first victory on this fort and therefore the name –TORNA. TORNA is also called prachandgadh because of it vastness. I had heard a lot about Tornal, but I never imagined what I was to experience, unless I saw it.

We were a group of 13 people (3 kids and 10 adults). We left Pune at 7.15am on 10^th July in 2 cars and it took us 1.5 hrs to reach the base of Torna. We reached Velhe village which is at around 50km from Pune at around 9am. As we reached near the village, the Sahyadri mountains covered with a blanket of green trees gave a beautiful view. One the major reasons you should go for treks in the monsoons is to have a glance of beautiful landscape.

The place was not new to the group since this was the 3^rd year they were coming here, so Ranjit was always in front guiding the group and all we enthusiasts followed him.

Torna is about 4500 ft height, difficulty level is medium, but there are two rock patches on the way up, a little slippery, not bad during ascending, but the descend would really prove tougher on them, but if you are adventurous, you would enjoy it. I was lucky, I didn’t have to carry any sack, courtesy to Gaurav, who carried it. All these photographs are also his piece of creativity….. :)

When you are at the bottom of the mountain, you cannot see the mountain tip/peak, it’s covered with fog and all you feel like is just reach the top and have a closer look at it. The initial part of the trek was walking through the mountain; just see the wonderful waterfalls flowing from a couple of places. As we reached mid the journey, we reached 2 places, which was a flat area which was very windy and it could almost fly you off. I called this as wind therapy area, if you simply stand at one place, opposite the wind, you would get a good body massage by the wind…:-). There was another such place where we experienced windy rains; the rain drops hit your face as if someone targeted you with sharp spears. It was horrifying, but was fun. What we observed was that as you enter the foggy area, it is like you are entering the rainy region and its rains continuously there, something that we really enjoyed.

Then came two very scary steeps (rocky patch as they say), almost breathtaking, but it was safer due to the railing on 1 side. But once you cross this, there comes the most relieving and fun part, the Awesome “Waterfalls”. I don’t know from which height did the water flew, but the water was damn pure and very cold. The place was heaven and if you stand below the falls, you get a good water therapy (that is what I call it as). All your body pain would vanish off and you feel relaxed.

We just didn’t feel like leaving the place, it was awesome and as you stand by the mountain side, you cannot see the base or adjoining mountains, it was that foggy, you actually could not see what was a few fts away. We finally left the waterfalls and started ascending again. In another half an hr, we reached the top. It was 12.30pm; we had our lunch in a temple and tea at some ‘tapri’ just to get some warmth and energy to our bodies.

After having lunch, I was feeling very cold, I was literally shivering and was not feeling well……I got a little scared, didn’t knew if I would reach the base….:P From there we went to Zunjar Machi point, that point was entirely covered by fog, the view was as if there was a blanket of white sky behind us, amazing moment….

2.30pm: Now, was the time to start descending and it was raining heavily. It’s always risky climbing down and that too in the rains….and I made sure I don’t skid, but I ended up skidding twice in the muddy area….:). I should say, there is no fun without skidding, yes only if you don’t hurt yourself badly….:D

As we climbed down, the number of waterfalls had doubled and we could see lot many falls, thanks to the rains, it was a wonderful view. The whole experience was enthralling. When I see such places, I feel bad for those who crib about trekking and wanna tell them what really they are missing. Well, I know I am fortunate of them all.

We reached the base at 4.30pm, played for a while in the smaller falls and then got ready for our journey back to Pune…:( Yes, I was very tired and just felt sleepy and wanted to get back home, but I did feel bad leaving the place and the only thing I said myself was, “Torna is and will always be in my memories. I will not be able to express my experience here, but it shall be always with me until I die…. :-)”

Empower, Encourage yourself

I got a chance to attend the”Women in Tech” event organized by Yahoo for Geeky women working in IT sectors. According to the Yahoo HR Exec, Aparna this was a tribute to all the geeky women and a platform where ladies could socialize with other women in technology industry. It was a great opportunity to “network, share and empower”.

The event started at 6.30 pm in Leela Palace, but as I reached there, I was given a Bingo sheet which had a number of events and we had to talk with girls there and get the signature of those who fit into the criteria and people who complete all the events would get gifts and 1 lucky lady gets “Ipad2”. It was fun, I met a couple of ladies, interacted with them, and we exchanged the sheets and signed the respective events we fit into…. :)

Later, there was a panel of executive level women who participated into a Debate topic and Sucharita from NASSCOM moderated the discussion. The topic was “Are women considered geeky enough to climb the corporate ladder? “ Since there were no guys, there was no as such hot debate on this topic, infact all of them shared their thoughts and views and gave some very good pointers.

I would summarize the discussion as;

Being Geeky means having the passion for technology, keeping abreast of all the upcoming technologies and wiliness to learn them.

Yes, Girls are geeky, but the number of girls that participate in such geeky talks are very less and hence they are not considered geeky enough. Girls should grab opportunities as men do and take up the challenges.

The statistics show that only 6%-7% of women are at executive levels. There are number of reasons, why the number is so low;

• As a woman grows in her professional life, she also has to take the responsibility of her family and that is when we give up growing and don’t take up roles of executive levels.
• Marriage and particularly parenthood, are life changing events in everyone’s lives and it is very important that women gets a supportive family for her to take up any executive level roles.

It is we, who do not consider girls geeky enough and hence backout from climbing high in the corporate ladder, so the message spread was “Empower and encourage ourselves.” Others will treat/consider girls the way they consider themselves, so it is entirely in our hands.

You must watch "Why we have too few women Leaders"talk by Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook.

• No one gets the promotion unless they think they deserve their success. Believe in yourself, own your own success. Reach out for opportunities
• Make your partner, real partner. Make sure, your partner is real supportive at home and appreciates your job at home and at work.
• Don’t leave before you leave. Stay in until the very day you really need to leave. Don’t make decisions too far in advance.

Know your local language

It was my cousin sister’s engagement the day I reached B’lore and it was great fun. It was a gang of only girls and there was no one to stop us, we just had lots of fun and we had bhavis talks, all just enjoy the way she speaks kannada…. ;)

Then I realized it really does not matter much, if you do not know kannada in B’lore. Infact I find very few who talk the language or even if they know, they will prefer talking in English or hindi….My sister tells me, you should talk in kannada only with your family or where it is necessary. I really did not get why was she telling that and then I realized it a few days later;

One day, our bike was towed by the police and we went to the station to collect it. The police asked us to give 300 bucks and i asked him, why 300 for? The usual charge is 150 (100 for parking in Non-parking zone+ 50 as towing charges). I was about to debate with him, and then my sister told me, “Let me talk to your head officer”. We met the office, he was of 50+ aged and my sister, who never talks in kannada outside, started speaking to him in kannada and very softly. She told him, “Sir, it’s so late in the night, we are just 2 girls and we did not see the No Parking board there and why do we have to pay 300 bucks. Please be generous to us sir.” He got so emotional, he asked the other office to take only 100 bucks from us and give us our bike. I was stunned, he did not ask for the DL, bike papers, etc, just let us go so easily…. Then my sis tells me, if I had spoken to him in hindi, I doubt if he would have let us go without 200 bucks.

The other place she tells me to talk in kannada is with bus conductors, they will help you get down to the right bus stop and give you the change properly. Preferably, in all govt offices, try talking in local language, you can get your work done easily.

So, if you know the local languages, it really helps you a long way. It is way of showing that we respect the place and the language and it is mental psychology; we always get well with people who know our language than the person who doesn’t …..

This is everywhere; I am not telling this in particular to B’lore, but this really sucks, why we don’t treat “Hindi” as a common local language, why discriminate, people by language or places. At the basic level, I am a human being and I should be given all rights, it should not change as I move from one place to other. I believe, we should all change this attitude in ourselves and educate others too… But till the change happens, I would recommend learning local languages of the places we stay, it really helps….:D

Share the power of a Wish

Children as I believe are the most sensitive, innocent souls of all. It’s said, always be a kid throughout your life…. I become a kid when I am with kids around and simply love their smiling faces and will do my best to get that smile.

I imagine at times, what if you knew when you are going to die, what would most of us do….. I don’t know what would I do but Yes, I would have lots of Wishes which I wished would come true and never be regretful of leaving life early without enjoying things I wanted to.

And I am really fortunate enough to have lovely people around who would try their best to make my Wish come true, but what about those people whose wishes cannot become reality due to some financial problems, especially kids…. I think it is this “Wish” which would give the kid hope in the future, will give them something to look forward to and focus on something other than their illness.

I hope I can in some way or the other make a Kid’s wish come true.

"There’s nothing like making a sick kid’s wish come true” that’s what Make A Wish foundation says and I do agree with it. They grant wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. Today I experienced the pleasure and the most mesmerizing smiles on 2 sweet little angel’s face when they got video games and a cycle……

I tried contributing for this noble cause by purchasing a photo frame…. I would gift it to my father who has always been into such social causes and i am sure this will get a smile on his face too….J

So, I am using this blog post to spread the word of “Share the power of a Wish”. Try adopting a Kid’s wish by monetary help or by been a volunteer to such noble causes…..Adopt a wish and get the smile on a kid’s face, nothing can you give such a pleasure.

Congratulations Team India!

History was rewritten on 2^nd April 2011 by the World Cup 2011 Champions….by our bleeding blue cricketers. I remember dad, my uncle’s always talking about the 1983 WC win and finally millions of people wishes came true after a 28 yr long period, Congratulation Team India!!

The entire WC11 tournament was a period when all people be it any caste, creed only wished that World Cup comes to India. That was the period when literally India’s heartbeat stopped only to watch the victorious win. You go anywhere, you could only hear about cricket, player’s performance, etc. All wanted Indians to win this WC11 just for God of Cricket “Sachin” wish come true, that was a tribute to the iconic guy.

I still remember the 2003 World cup finals between India and Australia…the most memorable one. I had my 10^th Exams and was in front of the TV just watching the finals, mom was very unhappy with me and that turned more disastrous with India losing the match. Since then I lost all hopes and never took interest in cricket, thanks to my scores in 10^th Exams. My mom always reminds me of the Crazy “me” and I never followed Cricket…. :(

It was only this time especially after I saw the same crazy people around me talking about WCC11 that I started following it. But the match against South Africa where we lost the almost won match, I felt this was the blow India really needed. It’s not good (especially for we Indians) to keep winning continuously, you get boosted off and you lose the concentration. I believe that was the match which helped the players tighten up their socks and play the knock out matches cautiously.

I remember when India won the quarters, when asked about the India-Pakistan knock out in semis, Dhoni coolly said “It is just another ODI match for us and we gotto give our best in it.” The semis was a hyped up situation for the players. People said “You don’t win the finals, doesn’t matter much, but Indians cannot lose against Pakistan.” Hats off to our great Cricketers, they played a flawless game, their bowling and fielding amazed all….. that was a true Champions game, which left even the Aussies and many competitive countries support India in the Finals…. :) I remember this day, the match being on weekday, many took leave from office just to watch India win the game, none on the streets from kids to elders all in front of the TV, what an awesome feeling….. :D

Then came 2^nd April, finals against Srilanka that too in Wankhede stadium, Mumbai, Sachin’s hometown. Another match of outstanding bowling and fielding innings by Indian players; but when Sehwag and Sachin got out early, I said mom that we are losing and I don’t want the 2003 instance to repeat but there was a ray of hope and kept the patience. Gambhir’s patience and dedication kept that hope intact till the end of the match, he was the true foundation layer (Wish he could complete his century). Dhoni played a Captain’s league and batted in his “desi” style to the Victory path. He simply grabbed the cup from the lankan’s hands and cant forget his Winning Sixer shot, what could we ask for more?

Each and every player in the team deservers to hold the World Cup11. Everyone has contributed and together they stand as World Class Champions!! Not to forget our couch Gary Kirsten who says “India has to remain at the top of world cricket” Amen!!

I am going to cherish this ever and I am glad I can proudly tell the next generation to come that we were World Champion in WC11…. :) Congratulations Team India !!